Ready? Go! Shoot a photo for each of 26 different themes during the month of July and then submit your project to the International Photographic Scavenger Hunt (26 Things) website. I am doing this, will you?

the themes are:
love
you
food
new
animal
scape
sound
construction
home
time
transport
light
water
colour
signage
numbers
authority
symmetry
empty
a sunset
weather
communication
little things
footwear
money
monument

Just finished watching "Man With A Movie Camera" on DVD and it was astounding and exciting and ... well, if you love film, you simply must get this in your hands and give it a view. It was made in Russia in 1929 and was (still is) a ground breaking movie full of in-camera and editing tricks, great shots, and the most amazing and slightly crazed cameraman who lies down under trains and carts and climbs tall smoke stacks just to get his shot. Did I mention it was made in 1929? Only six years after the release of 16mm film. There is no storyline to speak of -- the intro claims the film is from "the diary" of a cameraman and it shows the daily Russian life of women, men, children, workers. This film is in the public domain and there are at least three versions available. The Cinematic Orchestra provides a great soundtrack on this new DVD. Now I have to see at least one of the other versions and compare music.

Today was an odd day. But that's not the topic of this post. The topic is that if a 6-piece band can be called a cinematic orchestra, the band Cinematic Orchestra is that band. They have no string or horn sections to speak of, just a single horn player (sax), a bassist, an amazing drummer, an old-school keyboardist, a DJ/sound guy and another guy who does keyboard/programming stuff. Even though it sounds like a typical modern electronica alterna-band, they aren't. They are, well, cinematic. Soulful. Jazzy. Free-form funky sometimes. And even though I loved the show, there are times when extended jams with skronking saxes (which sound as if a mad scientist has merged the sounds of a bandsaw, a seagull and a balloon into one evil sound machine bent on world domination) is just really not my cup of tea. But the rest of the time, they are a good band. They also just did a soundtrack to the DVD of the 1929 (yes, '29) Russian film "Man With A Movie Camera," which I now own and will soon watch.
The opening band was A Whisper in the Noise and the leader of the band appeared to be the terminally shy basement-dwelling slightly manic-depressive love child of Ben Folds and Trent Reznor. In other words, fairly intriguing.

My entry into this week's theme of "angles" for Photo Friday. I could also have used this shot or even this one, but glass and light is always fascinating. Plus Meghan liked it more than the others.

If I was a cussin' man, and I am, I'd say something like g*# da&$ mo!#&*@ son of a %#*@!? about all the fucking water in my basement right now. One week after having the basement waterproofed.

Tonight Meghan and I went to see a sneak preview (free, even) of Whale Rider over at the Landmark Edina theater. Gorgeous. Very nice movie set in the world of Maori in New Zealand about wanting things that don't exist and being blind to things that do; tradition; spirit; family. I loved it and recommend all of you go see it. Music was done by Lisa Gerrard, who you may recognize from her solo career or more likely as half of the band Dead Can Dance.

wow. the blog that made me cry the other day made me cry again today. her mother passed away. she (I think her name is Toni) wrote about how she whispered in her mother's ear that it was ok to leave this earth and be free and that just made me well up with tears. I said much the same thing to my grandmother during her last days battling cancer a few years ago. it was something I never thought I'd ever have to say, to tell somebody that is was ok to die and to leave our presence... to encourage them to release their bonds to this earth. I cried when I told her that and for some reason, even though I still think it was the right thing to say, I feel guilty and shamed for it. and then I feel sad for not being there as much a few years earlier when grandpa had his bout with cancer and passed away. I guess I don't have very many regrets in general, but you can never get back time not spent with a loved one.

All this housework or impending housework just stresses me out. Argh. My shoulders are burning with tension. But at least I got Final Cut Pro 4 the other day and the new Soundtrack tool is amazingly kick-ass cool. Super kiff! I slapped this little snippet together (and this one) just to see how the program works. I claim (Moby) no (I'm) inherent (coming) musical (after) talent (you). Ha!

PowerMac G5, baby. Anybody wanna buy a dual 1 Ghz G4 tower come August?

So I'm supposed to be writing an article for a monthly newspaper and instead I make a quick round of some blogs and come across this amazing site (waxy.org's mother) and I started crying after the first post. Her mother is dying from brain cancer.

So it took longer than expected to get the results back from my CT scan last week, but I finally got the print-out and explanation: all good. No further testing needed. Um, wait a second... if no further tests are needed because everything is completely normal, why does my abdomen still ache on what is a rather continual basis? Sure, sometimes it lessens for a few days and I barely notice it, but some days it feels like a small painful balloon is located near my appendix. Still, all scans and blood tests and colonscopies show nothing abnormal. In fact, Doc says I look very healthy. So what next? Psychiatric treatment? Food allergies? Oh, I hope not. My diet is already more restrictive than I'd like as I can't eat dairy and I don't eat red meat.

I've entered a photo taken in South Africa for this week's Photo Friday theme of Critters. Of course, there is always the Bagelmunk.

At 7:30 am this morning (an ungodly hour in my book), the crew showed up to waterproof my basement. This is the sound inside my house (from upstairs, even) right now. They dig up a trench around the perimeter and install drain tile, sump pump, water guard, etc and guarantee it for life. (120k .wav file)

I've been doing a lot of house work lately (bathroom, entire basement, yard, moving stuff, etc) and while removing a large nasty "cedar closet" from the basement I came across this (apparently) photocopied note from Jeannie to Tony. It has been submitted to Found Magazine as well. Who were these people?!

In case you can't make it out, it reads:
"Tony - I stopped in after work to see how your Dr. appt went -- did I do any permanent damage to your incision? I got the night off tomorrow (thurs) do you want to do something? (say yes, I HATE REJECTION!) I still got lots of Jamaican! The Miami Vice soundtrack is GREAT! See ya tomorrow. Love, Jeannie."

Also after my medical appointment I was conveniently located next to an Apple Store and swung in to see if they had the Griffin iTrip iPod Transmitter. Every time I've called in the past few weeks they've said, sorry, we just sold all the units we had in stock. Argh. Yesterday was not that day. This little (and it is very little) doodad completely kicks ass! Find a nice open spot in the middle of the dial and start kicking out the jams. Get one if you have an iPod.

After my CT scan test yesterday I got productive in the late afternoon and took a trunk full of paint and stain (about 18 cans) and a whole trailer full of wood from renovation projects at my house out to the Brooklyn Park Recycling Center. They'll take almost anything and make sure it gets put in the proper channels for reuse or disposal. $20 for a whole load of bulky, nasty stuff. It felt good. There's a location in the south metro as well.

My entry for this week's Photo Friday challenge of Multiples: Blue Barrels.

I'm off to get an MRI done on my abdomen (still having some pain even though all other tests so far are normal). Be back soon with hopefully good news.
UPDATE: Ok, I did not get an MRI done as they didn't know what they were looking for, so I had a CT scan done instead. Went quick and easy and I'll get results (hopefully) by Monday.

You just know this video is going to be great after reading the 5th-grade "book report" copy on the back of the sleeve. No, I did not rent or watch this movie, although the temptation almost had me.

Just found out about this utterly wonderful site from CBC called CBC Radio 3. You MUST check this out and turn up your sound and invest some time. I am stunned.

My butt is now flat. It started out a cloudy day yesterday so we intended to check out some documentaries playing around town. In fact, we decided to hit two docs in succession. And we did. First we cruised to the Uptown for "Winged Migration" which contains some gorgeous and amazing shots. A beautiful film on migratory birds. Then we rather quickly scooted over to Edina for "Spellbound," which was, in my opinion, the better of the two films. It was just funnier and more emotionally gripping even though it looked rougher due to its origin on digital video. And some of the people in the movie -- whooo boy. I do highly recommend it. Once we got home and cooked up some grub, M. says, perhaps as a challenge, let's watch that Wilco documentary DVD. I think we qualify for some sort of sloucher's club.

Meg (seeing bumper sticker): "Go Vegan!"? Is that a team?
Me: uh, yeah... I'm pretty sure it is...
Meg: I bet they play squash!

This week's entry into Photo Friday: Packaging is now online. Nothing like a bit of monkey grip to save your rubber! If only it worked on other things, too... like getting your house projects finished. Or going to the dentist for you. Or maybe going to work for you! That would be sweet.

Apple today announced that Final Cut Pro 4 will go on sale at 4:00 PM on Saturday, June 14, at participating Apple Authorized Resellers and Apple retail stores... [via MacMinute.com]

Sheesh. Things sometimes just get busy busy busy and you don't even notice that your friends have dilemmas or that you haven't responded to emails or you feel like you haven't slept in days. Still, we managed to attend two graduations (Patrick and Alexia), clean the kitchen, tear down a wall in the bathroom, buy a new sink and faucet, shop for tile, go out for dinner at Kincaid's (best salmon in town?), attend a BBQ, and play some mini-golf. Also got an entry in to Photo Friday: Transportation.